Objectives

The careful reader will notice that the vocabulary used to discuss art in this chapter is different from that used in earlier (and later) chapters. Here the emphasis is less on formal elements and composition and more on the use of objects, and the cultural and religious context of objects. One of the things you will want to contemplate about this chapter is the way in which the viewer is compellingly pulled into an examination of the context in which the objects were made.

Goals for this chapter include

• Gain a geographic familiarity with the cultural history of the Western Hemisphere. What events happened? Where did they happen?

• Distinguish between the achievements of the two great empires: the Aztec and the Inka.

• Become familiar with, and appreciative of, the design potential of "ordinary" materials such as cloth, bark, feathers, clay, and sand.

• Recognize the differences among art produced in various regions of North America.

• Acknowledge the impact that European "occupation" of the Western Hemisphere had on native cultures.

• Acknowledge the survival of Native American cultural and artistic traditions in spite of the European conquest.